Unworthy though thou art, I'll cope with thee,
And do fome service to Duke Humphry's ghoft.
[Exeunt Suffolk and Warwick.
K. Henry. What ftronger breaft-plate than a heart unThrice is he arm'd that hath his quarrel juft; And he but naked (though lock'd up in steel)
Whose confcience with injuftice is corrupted. [Anoife within. Q. Mar. What noise is this?
Enter Suffolk and Warwick, with their weapons drawn.
K.Henry. Why, how now, Lords? your wrathful weapons Here in our prefence! dare you be fo bold?
Why, what tumultuous clamour have we here?
Suf. The trait'rous Warwick with the men of Bury Set all upon me, mighty Sovereign.
Sal. Sirs, ftand apart, the King fhall know your mind. Dread Lord, the Commons fend you word by me, Unless Lord Suffolk ftrait be put to death,
Or banifhed fair England's territories,
They will by violence tear him from your palace,
And torture him with grievous ling'ring death;
They fay, by him the good Duke Humphry dy'd;
They fay, in him they fear your Highness' death;
And mere inftinct of love and loyalty,
(Free from a ftubborn oppofite intent,
As being thought to contradict your liking)
Makes them thus forward in his banishment.
They fay, in care of your moft Royal perfon,
That if your Highnefs fhould intend to fleep,
And charge that no man fhould disturb your reft,
In pain of your diflike, or pain of death;
Yet notwithstanding fuch a strange edict,
Were there a ferpent feen with forked tongue
That flily glided tow'rds your Majefty,
It were but neceffary you were wak'd;
Left being fuffer'd in that harmless slumber,
The mortal worm might make the fleep eternal.
And therefore do they cry, though you forbid,
That they will guard you whe'r you will no,
From fuch fell ferpents as falfe Suffolk is;
With whofe invenomed and fatal fting
Your loving uncle, twenty times his worth,
They fay, is fhamefully bereft of life.
Commons within. An anfwer from the King, my Lord of Salisbury.
Suf. Tis like the Commons, rude unpolifh'd hinds, Could fend fuch meffage to their Sovereign:
But you, my Lord, were glad to be employ'd,
To fhew how queint an orator you are.
But all the honour Salisbury hath won,
Is, that he was the lord ambaffador
Sent from a fort of tinkers to the King.
Within. An anfwer from the King, or we will all break in.
K.Henry. Go, Salisbury, and tell them all from me,
I thank them for their tender loving care;
And had I not been cited fo by them,
Yet did I purpose as they do entreat;
For fure my thoughts do hourly prophefie
Milchance unto my state by Suffolk's means.
And therefore by his Majesty I swear,
Whofe far-unworthy Deputy I am,
He shall not breathe infection in this air
But three days longer, on the pain of death.
Q. Mar. Oh Henry, let me plead for gentle Suffolk!
K. Henry, Ungentle Queen, to call him gentle Suffolk.
No more, I fay: if thou doft plead for him,
Thou wilt but add increase unto my wrath.
Had I but faid, I would have kept my word;
But when I fwear, it is irrevocable:
If after three days space thou here be'ft found,
On any ground that I am ruler of,
K 3
The world fhall not be ranfom for thy life.
Come, Warwick, come, good Warwick, go with me; I have great matters to impart to thee.
[Exeunt King, Warwick, &c.
Manent Queen and Suffolk.
Q. Mar. Mifchance and forrow go along with you! Heart's difcontent and four affliction
Be play-fellows to keep you company!
There's two of you, the devil make a third,
And three-fold vengeance tend upon your steps!
Suf. Ceafe, gentle Queen, these execrations,
And let thy Suffolk take his heavy leave.
Q. Mar. Fie, coward woman, and foft-hearted wretch, Haft thou not fpirit to curfe thine enemy?
[them?
Suf. A plague upon them; wherefore fhould I curfe
Would curfes kill as doth the mandrake's groan,
I would invent as bitter fearching terms,
As curft, as harsh and horrible to hear,
Deliver'd ftrongly through my fixed teeth,
With full as many figns of deadly hate,
As lean-fac'd envy in her loathfome cave.
My tongue fhould ftumble in mine earnest words,
Mine eyes fhould sparkle like the beaten flint,
Mine hair be fixt on end like one diftract:
Ay, ev'ry joint fhould feem to curfe and ban.
And ev'n now my burthen'd heart would break,
Should I not curfe them. Poison be their drink,
Gall, worse than gall, the daintieft thing they tafte,
Their fweeteft fhade a grove of cypress trees,
Their chiefeft profpect murd'ring bafilisks,
Their fofteft touch as fmart as lizards ftings,
Their mufick frightful as the ferpent's hifs,
And boading fcreech-owls make the confort full!
All the foul terrors in dark-feated hell-
Q. Mar. Enough, fweet Suffolk, thou torment'st thy felf, And thefe dread curfes like the fun 'gainst glass, Or like an over-charged gun, recoil,
And turn the force of them upon thy felf.
Suf. You bad me ban, and will you bid me leave?
Now by the ground that I am banish'd from,
Well could I curfe away a winter's night,
Though ftanding naked on a mountain-top,
Where biting cold would never let grafs grow,
And think it but a minute spent in fport.
Q. Mar. Oh, let me intreat thee ceafe; give me thy hand, That I may dew it with my mournful tears;
Nor let the rain of heav'n wet this place,
To wash away my woful monuments!
Oh, could this kifs be printed in thy hand,
That thou might'ft think 7 'on these lips by the feal,
Through which a thousand fighs are breath'd for thee!
So, get thee gone, that I may know my grief;
'Tis but furmis'd whilft thou art ftanding by:
As one that furfeits, thinking on a want.
I will repeal thee, or, be well affur'd,
Adventure to be banished my felf:
And banished I am, if but from thee.
Go, fpeak not to me; even now be gone
Oh, go not yet Ev'n thus two friends conde.nn'd
Embrace and kiss, and take ten thousand leaves,
Loather a hundred times to part than die:
Yet now farewel, and farewel life with thee!
Suf. Thus is poor Suffolk ten times banished,
Once by the King, and three times thrice by thee.
'Tis not the land I care for, wert thou hence;
A wilderness is populous enough,
So Suffolk had thy heav'nly company.
For where thou art, there is the world it self;
With ev'ry fev'ral pleasure in the world;
And where thou art not, defolation.
7 upon these by the feal, 8 whom
Live thou to joy thy life!
My felf no joy in ought but that thou liv'ft.
Q. Mar. Whither goes Vaux fo faft? what news, I
Vaux. To fignifie unto his Majefty,
That Cardinal Beaufort's at the point of death:
For fuddenly a grievous ficknefs took him,
That makes him gafp, and ftare, and catch the air,
Blafpheming God, and curfing men on earth.
Sometimes he talks as if Duke Humphry's ghoft
Were by his fide; fometimes he calls the King,
And whispers to his pillow, as to him,
The fecrets of his over-charged foul:
And I am fent to tell his Majefty,
That even now he cries aloud for him.
Q. Mar. Go tell this heavy meffage to the King.
[Exit Vaux.
Ay me! what is this world? what news are these?
But wherefore grieve I at an hour's poor lofs,
Omitting Suffolk's exile, my foul's treasure?
Why only, Suffolk, mourn I not for thee,
And with the fouthern clouds contend in tears?
Theirs for the earth's increafe; mine for my forrows.
Now get thee hence; the King, thou know'ft, is coming;
If thou be found by me, thou art but dead.
Suf. If I depart from thee, I cannot live,
And in thy fight to die, what were it else
But like a pleafant flumber in thy lap?
Here could I breathe my foul into the air,
As mild and gentle as the cradle-babe
Dying with mother's dug between its lips:
Where from thy fight I fhould be raging mad,
And cry out for thee to close up mine eyes,
To have thee with thy lips to ftop my mouth:
So fhouldst thou either turn my Aying foul,
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